Blockade

It seems like everyone is discussing the Gaza blockade these days. It’s illegal, inhumane. Breaches of international law. Prevention of weapons smuggling. Terrorism. Defense of Israel. People trapped in an open-air prison. The flotilla. What does it all mean?

My first reaction when I heard about the flotilla attack was disbelief. Sadly, I was shocked because of the horrendous public relations mistake Israel had made – not because Israel had once again used any means necessary to prevent Gaza from breaking through the barrier of control that Israel has imposed upon it.

I share the opinion of many others, that the flotilla deaths broadcast Israel’s weaknesses very plainly. Israel is weakening year by year, just like the United States. The symptoms are its failed policies, a series of mismanaged wars, an increasingly fractious domestic political environment, and an obsession with the ‘war on terror.’ The flotilla deaths first show Israel’s military incompetence. I do not think Israeli soldiers are evil people. I think the soldiers were unprepared for the resistance of the flotilla activists, and lost control of the situation to the extent of shooting 9 people point-blank. This is the working of a third world military at protest demonstration, not an advanced military. I also think Israeli politicians and military commanders underestimate the damage done to Israel’s reputation year by year with their policies against the Palestinians. Israel’s weakness is in its inability to thoroughly convince the world that the blockade on Gaza is either working, or necessary in the first place. Israel is continuing to make the same mistakes that the United States made during the Bush years.

Israeli fanaticism with holding on to the Gaza blockade is another sign of its weakness. The Israeli government, and many Israelis, argue that the blockade on Gaza is necessary in order to prevent Hamas from getting weapons. If this is truly the logic for Israel blockading an entire 1.5 million Palestinians from the world, let me ask:

1. Why block ships from entering Gaza’s ports that are proven to carry nothing but humanitarian supplies?
2. In Dec-Jan 2009, why unilaterally kill over 1,400 Palestinian civilians, assaulting Gaza as if the entire place is a military base? Is this the working of an advanced military? Is this the way to ‘protect’ Israel, preserving its safety for the future?!
3. Why prevent Gazans with good jobs and education from traveling? Why punish all people with a Gaza ID from moving anywhere, keeping them separated from their families and friends?

The blockade is primarily about collective punishment. In 2006, it is widely noted that Dov Weisglass, a close advisor to Ariel Sharon in the Israeli government, stated: “the idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” In the 1970s, Moshe Dayan (leader of the Israeli Labor party) said: “We have no solution.. you [Palestinians] shall continue to live like dogs, and whoever wishes may leave, and we will see where this process leads.” (Source: Yossi Beilin, Mehiro shel Ihud (Revivim, 1985), 42; an important review of cabinet records under the Labor Party, from Noam Chomsky).

So where has this process led?? It has led to more and more collective punishment of the Palestinians, and less and less peace. Let’s punish Gazans for electing Hamas. Let’s starve Hamas out of power, let’s make them feel that we control every small detail of their lives. As Dayan said, let the Palestinians leave. It’s the same in the West Bank. The policies of the settlements are screaming to the Palestinians: “leave! It’s not your land anymore.”

I have seen this collective punishment played out in the lives of ordinary people from Gaza. My friend Nizar, whom I recently wrote about, is from Gaza. He is here in Ramallah, trying to go back to Gaza to see his mother who is sick with cancer. He is still waiting for a permit to go to Gaza. His father is a former Fatah minister (obviously not a Hamas supporter!) and Nizar works for a USAID contractor. He is as highly educated and successful as one can be, yet he cannot get a permit to even move from one Palestinian area to another.

A couple days ago, Nizar was informed that he could get a permit to go to Gaza within 1 hour if he signed a paper declaring he would never return to the West Bank, ever. The Israelis are trying to control every aspect of life for Gazans. They don’t want Gazans to leave Gaza, or to go back in. They don’t want Gazans to be in the West Bank, much less in other countries. Nizar is not even inside Israeli territory, but their occupation means they still control every aspect of his movement. He did not sign the statement, and so is still here in Ramallah, waiting for a permit that may take days or weeks to come. His comment to me was, “this is what we [Palestinians] know, occupation.”

Israel must stop claiming that the blockade is necessary to protect itself. As a friend of mine recently said, even if Israel killed every Hamas member, something else would rise in its place. Hamas – the spirit of it – will never die so long as Israel is oppressively controlling and occupying the Palestinian people. There is something called the right to resist…. The blockade is only increasing the hatred, frustration and rage against Israel. The flotilla deaths are another result of the huge mistake and failure of the blockade… another dark stain on Israel’s record…. another event triggering even more resentment and violence against the Israeli state. Showing Israel’s profound weakness, even in the midst of its tight control over Palestinian lives. There is simply no way to continue this policy. Israel has to find another way to ‘defend itself.’ Stop the obsession with military solutions. Show some commitment to actually respecting Palestinians, some sign that Israel actually wants peace. There is no other way out.